yous

See also: you's

English

Alternative forms

• (pronoun) youse, youze

Etymology

From you +‎ -s (“plural suffix”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /juːz/, /jəz/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːz

Pronoun

yous

1. (dialectal, chiefly Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, New York City, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Boston, New England, Northeastern United States, Chicago, Cincinnati, Liverpool, Cape Breton, Ireland, Scotland, Michigan, Teesside) You (plural). [from 19th c.]
2. (dialectal) You (singular).
   • 1909, PG Wodehouse, The Gem Collector:

     ‘Dere ain't no use for me dis side, Mr. Chames,’ he said. ‘New York's de spot. Youse don't want none of me, now you're married.’

   • 1938, Patrick Kavanagh, The Green Fool:

     ‘Yous will meet us here outside this pub,’ Harry Curniskey said.

   • 1988, Kathy Lette, Girls' Night Out:

     ‘But what I also seen is that youse have never had a real man before, datin' all them boys. Youse have never had anyone who'd stand up to youse.’

   • 1992, Edward Bond, In the Company of Men:

     You think yous can live wi'oot money! Few months doon this hell, you'll murder for money!

Usage notes

• Yous(e) as a plural is found mainly in (Northern) England, Scotland, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, northern Nova Scotia, parts of Ontario in Canada and parts of the northeastern United States (especially areas like Boston where there was historically Irish immigration) and in Mexican-American communities in the southwest. It also occurs in Scouse.
• Yous(e) as a singular is found in Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Cincinnati [1] and scattered throughout working class Italian-American communities in the Rust Belt.

Synonyms

• see the list of other second-person pronouns in you

Determiner

yous

1. The group spoken or written to.

   Have yous finished talking?

Noun

yous

1. plural of you
   • 1992, Robert Dubin, Central Life Interests: Creative Individualism in a Complex World, page 10:

     Most of your life after babyhood has been played out by the several yous.

   • 2010, Patrick M Morley, The Man in the Mirror: Solving the 24 Problems Men Face, page 36:

     There are two yous — the visible you and the real you. The visible you is the you that is known by others.

Verb

yous

1. third-person singular simple present indicative of you